The domain within your query sequence starts at position 5159 and ends at position 5259; the E-value for the SPEC domain shown below is 4.29e0.

SPEC

Spectrin repeats [(PUBMED:8266097)] are found in several proteins involved in cytoskeletal structure. These include spectrin alpha and beta subunits [(PUBMED:12672815), (PUBMED:15062087)], alpha-actinin [(PUBMED:10481917)] and dystrophin. The spectrin repeat forms a three-helix bundle. The second helix is interrupted by proline in some sequences. The repeats are defined by a characteristic tryptophan (W) residue at position 17 in helix A and a leucine (L) at 2 residues from the carboxyl end of helix C.

In red blood cells, the integrity of the spectrin network is essential for normal cell shape and elasticity. To understand the molecular basis for spectrin's mechanical properties, one must determine how spectrin subunits interact with each other. The newly described crystallographic structures of two consecutive homologous repeats of human alpha-actinin, a member of the spectrin superfamily, shed new light on alpha-actinin interchain binding properties. Here I present evidence that interchain binding at the tail end of the spectrin molecule is likely to occur via a mechanism similar to that observed for alpha-actinin.

We now know that the evolution of multidomain proteins has frequently involved genetic duplication events. These, however, are sometimes difficult to trace because of low sequence similarity between duplicated segments. Spectrin, the major component of the membrane skeleton that provides elasticity to the cell, contains tandemly repeated sequences of 106 amino acid residues. The same repeats are also present in alpha-actinin, dystrophin and utrophin. Sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees of these domains allow us to interpret the evolutionary relationship between these proteins, concluding that spectrin evolved from alpha-actinin by an elongation process that included two duplications of a block of seven repeats. This analysis shows how a modular protein unit can be used in the evolution of large cytoskeletal structures.

The alpha- and beta-subunits of spectrin are made of repeated homologous units of 106 residues. In the recently reported partial sequence of the chicken non-muscle alpha-actinin, a repetitive sequence homologous to the internal repeat in spectrin occurs several times. Both spectrin and alpha-actinin are components of the cytoskeletal network, the integrity of which is based on multiple and complex interactions. We suggest that the shared domain structure indicates common structural principles or interactions of spectrin and alpha-actinin and reflects their common evolution.

The present status of erythrocyte spectrin structure: the 106-residue repetitive structure is a basic feature of an entire class of proteins.

J Cell Biochem. 1986; 30: 245-58

Display abstract

Spectrin, the major component of the erythroid membrane skeleton, is a long, asymmetrical rodlike protein that interacts with several other proteins to form a two-dimensional membrane skeleton. Progress in several laboratories over the past few years including substantial partial peptide and nucleotide sequence determination has greatly enhanced our knowledge of the structural properties of this large molecule (heterodimer = 465,000 daltons). The alpha and beta subunits are homologous with approximately 30% identity. They are aligned in an antiparallel side-to-side orientation with the amino- and carboxy-termini near opposite physical ends of the molecule. The predominant structural feature elucidated from sequencing this large molecule is the nearly universal occurrence in both subunits of a single type of repetitive structure. The periodicity of this homologous structure is exactly 106 amino acid residues. As many as 36 homologous, but nonidentical, repeats exist and comprise more than 90% of the mass of the heterodimer. Each of these repetitive units is folded into a triple-stranded structure that is highly helical. Peptide maps, antibody crossreactivity, peptide sequence analysis, and more recently nucleic acid sequences have defined several major properties of the erythroid molecule and related proteins in other tissues. Tissue-specific spectrins have the same 106-residue repetitive structure and show sequence homology to erythroid spectrin.

Disease (disease genes where sequence variants are found in this domain)

This information is based on mapping of SMART genomic protein database to KEGG orthologous groups. Percentage points are related to the number of proteins with SPEC domain which could be assigned to a KEGG orthologous group, and not all proteins containing SPEC domain. Please note that proteins can be included in multiple pathways, ie. the numbers above will not always add up to 100%.